David R. Brower

David R. Brower

"When David R. Brower died at his home in Berkeley, California, in late 2000, the world lost an irreplaceable leader. Eighty-eight years of courageous, contentious, and joyful activism made Brower one of the most successful environmental advocates the Earth has ever known.

"Considered by many to be the father of the modern environmental movement, the Berkeley native followed in the footsteps of John Muir, the man who founded the Sierra Club, an organization David Brower led to new levels of achievement and success in the 1950s and 60s. With a vision and influence equaled in the last century only by Rachel Carson and Jacques Cousteau, David Brower created a legacy of activism that made the environmental movement not only a part of our day-to-day lives, but a way for us to engage the world around us as an interconnected, integrated whole.

"Like the redwoods he fought to protect, Brower towered over his peers. Beginning his career as a world-class mountaineer with more than 70 first ascents to his credit, Brower served as the first executive director of the Sierra Club from 1952 to 1969. Under his leadership, the Club's membership expanded tenfold, from 7,000 to 70,000 members, becoming the nation's leading environmental membership organization.

"Brower later founded Friends of the Earth, a worldwide environmental network now active in 52 countries, and co-founded the League of Conservation Voters, the nation's most influential environmental political action group. In 1982, Brower founded Earth Island Institute, an incubator organization that fosters and supports activist projects around the world...

"Twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Brower was also instrumental in leading environmentalists to rethink their early support of nuclear power." (also provides a useful timeline of his life)


 * Former Advisory Board member, Native Forest Council
 * Member in Memory, Committee of 100 for Tibet
 * Winner of the 1977 Sierra Club: John Muir Award
 * Winner of the 1997 Global Green Environmental Leadership Award
 * Emeriti Advisory Board Member, Californians for Population Stabilization
 * Conservation Leader, Apply the Brakes

His sons are Ken Brower and Robert Brower.

Related Books

 * John McPhee, Encounters with the Archdruid (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971).

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * David Brower Center
 * Olof Palme
 * Martin Litton
 * Brower Fund